KEYNOTE SPEAKING

As President of Challenge Factory and the Centre for Career Innovation, Lisa offers a dynamic perspective on the Future of Work and how demographics, the freelance economy and new market dynamics present opportunities to gain strategic advantage.

Lisa is the author of “Retain and Gain: Career Management for Small Business” and "Retain and Gain: Career Management for Non-Profits and Charities, two sector-specific playbooks choc full of low-cost and no-cost activities for managers. Her third book, the Talent Revolution: Longevity and the Future of Work is published by University of Toronto Press-Rotman Imprint

With an MBA in Strategic Management and Public Administration from the Schulich School of Business at York University, Lisa held progressive roles at Deloitte and Hewlett-Packard. In 2014, Lisa was recognized by the Urban Land Institute as one of Canada's Top 100 Women for her work in the areas of leadership, employment and city building.

Lisa is a Canadian Special Operations Forces Regiment Association Board Member and a Member, Dean’s Advisory Council, The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University. Lisa sits on the Board of Directors for CERIC and co-chairs the Marketing Committee. She is a member of the Canadian Council of Career Development Associations (CCCD) Standards and Guidelines stakeholder committee and a member of Team Canada for the 2019 International Centre for Career Development and Public Policy symposium in Norway.

Lisa is a sought after expert, speaker and columnist. Her clients rely on her invaluable insights and real world know-how. Lisa’s expertise is widely recognized in the Globe & Mail, the Wall Street Journal, CBC, TVO and other major outlets.

Popular Keynotes

Stop Preparing for the Future of Work

Change is happening. The world is now more closely connected and population migration has created a diverse and blended workforce. We benefit from greater connectivity, and a deeper understanding of how our brains work; however we are challenged by emerging talent trends and business models. Daily news reports purport a thriving gig economy and the impending replacement of jobs by a robot workforce. But what’s myth and what is reality? How do AI, robotics and the platform economy impact how jobs are designed and what we need to do to adapt? Employees need to be prepared for the jobs that don't exist yet but will be a core part of thriving in a new global economy. Or do they?

What if the single most important action we can take is to stop preparing for the future as if it is inevitable and, instead, start shaping the future of work that we want for ourselves, our children and future generations? This talk breaks down the drivers of change and identifies the technological and talent related implications.

The Future is a Mystery, Not a Puzzle

Traditional approaches to problem solving require complete understanding of issues, boundaries and pieces in order to succeed. Even design thinking with its creative and user-centric approach seeks to solve for what customers value most. What if we approach today's talent and workforce challenges are less like business-school puzzles and more like science-based experiments. This talk examines new techniques and skills from a variety of sectors to show how leadership teams have the tools they need to decode their own futures, they just need to focus on finding the first clue along the journey.

Your Organizations Have Broken Talent Escalators

Today's talent structures no longer reflect the needs, skills and demographics of today's workforces. Organizations are spending a fortune to modify, augment and improve outdated structures. This evidence-based talk argues that it is time to return to first principles rather than evolve outdated workforce programs. It argues that we need to first define what it means to have an active, vibrant, productive workforce that is engaged throughout its entire working life. From this foundation we can reimagine today's intergenerational organizations, without throwing the baby (boomer) out with the bathwater.

Employees are not your Organization's Greatest Asset

It feels so good to declare that your employees are your greatest asset. Yet, much of today's struggles with engagement, loyalty, recruitment and retention may well be traced to practices inside organizations where people are treated just like assets - acquired at a price, depreciated over time and written off for nothing. Learn how new relationships inside and outside of your organization challenge traditional thinking. Lisa introduces new ways to think about the relationship between workforces and workplaces. She shares examples of how organizations have changed people management from from asset-based accounting approaches to equity-based value creation and transformed their organizations into workplaces of the future.

Social Rituals, Longevity and Legacy

At work, the rituals we celebrate feel empty over time. Think of the office birthday cake: fun for employees in their 20s, but awkward for employees in their 60s. Rituals exist to acknowledge accomplishment and connect people. Yet, while we have rituals to mark life’s beginnings, what about life’s middles or transition points? The middles are where real life and real legacies are created. This talk reveals the untapped opportunity to ritualize lifelong accomplishment and legacy building.